Current Location: Gallery 32 (Rothschild)
Titles
Ewer
Maker(s)
Silversmith:
Unidentified
Entities
Categories
Description
Silver-gilt, embossed, and chased, with cast handle. The sides are decorated with four oval medallions each enclosing an allegorical figure of one of the virtues: Faith, Hope, and Charity, and Fortitude. Accompanied by a wooden box (A) with two brass handles, two half-lids hinged with catches, and lining of red velvet, locking with a key (B)
Legal notes
L.D. Cunliffe Bequest, 1937
Measurements and weight
Height: 29.5 cm
Place(s) associated
Acquisition and important dates
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed
(1937)
by
Cunliffe, Leonard Daneham
Dating
Late 16th Century
Circa
1585
-
1586
Note
Label text from the exhibition ‘Feast and Fast: The Art of Food in Europe, 1500–1800’, on display at The Fitzwilliam Museum from 26 November 2019 until 31 August 2020:This ewer is decorated with four oval medallions containing female personifications of Faith, Hope, and Charity (the three Theological Virtues) and Fortitude (one of the four Cardinal Virtues). They were presumably included as moral exemplars to diners and intended to provoke ‘virtuous’ discussions. The rest of the ewer has less high-brow decoration relating, appropriately, both to water and food in the form of water-fowl and ripe fruit.
The form of this ewer is comparable to a design attributed to Etienne Delaune (1518/19-1583)
School or Style
Mannerist
People, subjects and objects depicted
Components of the work
Surface
composed of
gold
Box
Depth 15 cm
Height 35.5 cm
Width 23 cm
Foot
Diameter 8.2 cm
Decoration
Handle
Materials used in production
Silver
Techniques used in production
Raising
: Silver-gilt, with embossed, and chased decoration and cast handle
Inscription or legends present
- Text: L crowned
- Location: On base inside the foot
- Method of creation: Struck
- Type: Warden's mark
References and bibliographic entries
Related exhibitions
Identification numbers
Accession number: M/P.10-1938
Primary reference Number: 118321
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Saturday 6 August 2011
Updated: Tuesday 16 March 2021
Last processed: Thursday 16 March 2023
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
